JORDANIAN ENDS TOUR

Jordanian Foreign Minister Taher al-Masri Monday cut short a European tour where he was discussing a possible gulf war cease-fire and returned home because of the start of the allied ground offensive, the state-run Petra news agency said.

He told the agency he had been due to meet Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jacques Poos, president of the European Community Council of Ministers, and the foreign ministers of Italy and the Netherlands in Luxembourg Monday to discuss future ties between Jordan, the Arab world and the EC."Due to recent developments and the start of the ground offensive against brotherly Iraq, I had to cut short my trip because part of my official talks were on the need to support moves toward a political solution and to back the Soviet-Iraqi peace initiative," Masri told Petra. "The start of the U.S-led allied ground assault impeded such moves," he added.